Rick Murray
Rick Murray '(1988-2004) is a major recurring character on the Canadian television series, [[Degrassi: The Next Generation|''Degrassi: The Next Generation]]. He dated Terri MacGregor, but their relationship turned abusive and resulted in Terri landing in a coma. He was soon expelled from Degrassi, but returned the following year and was shunned by many students for his actions towards Terri. All of Rick's bullying culminated Degrassi through a storyline that changed its history forever. Rick is portrayed by Ephraim Ellis. Character History Background Rick is an only child who was bullied by many Degrassi students. He had hurt his girlfriend, Terri, by accidentally putting her into a coma. He was expelled, but returned to Degrassi, only to be hated even more for what he did to Terri. He had shot Jimmy and attempted to shoot Emma. Sean had tried to fight Rick for the gun when Rick was trying to shoot Emma, but one of them pulled the trigger accidentally, resulting in Rick's death. Season 3 In the episode Whisper to a Scream, from Season 3, he anonymously leaves Terri MacGregor roses at her locker and is later caught by Terri. He then makes his confession - that it was him leaving the roses all along. The two get into a relationship but it turns abusive. When there was a school play at Degrassi, Terri gets the lead role and Jimmy gave her great tips in rehearsal, while Rick gave some pretty bad tips. During the play, Terri takes Rick's tips and embarrasses herself in front of the entire school. Afterwards, Terri says she should have listened to Jimmy. This leads Rick to believe that Terri has more of a crush on Jimmy than himself. Rick retaliates by hurting Terri often and later apologizing, because of his 'fears of her leaving him for Jimmy', who was still single at the time. Hazel notices Terri's "love bruises" and tries to convince her to leave Rick after Terri confesses to her at Paige's girls' night out. At first Terri disapproves, but after Rick pushes her into a wall again, she dumps him. Months later, Terri and Rick are forced to be partners in a trust exercise. Terri fears this at first, but Rick promises he'll catch her, and he does. Terri and Rick end up back together at the end of the class. At first everybody is shocked, still remembering what Rick did months ago, and they get even more surprised when Terri wants to invite him to the road trip Paige is having when she gets the family van to herself. Over the next few days, Terri tries to convince everybody that Rick's changed, and when they stop at a park during the trip, Paige and Rick get into a fight which leads to Paige calling him a psycho while he runs into the forest. Terri runs after him and tells him that Paige was just being Paige and they should go back. Rick, being mad since he thinks that his feelings mean nothing to Terri, pushes her to the ground where she near-fatally hits her head on a cinder block, putting her into a coma. Afterwards, Rick left Degrassi. Season 4 When he returns and has to repeat tenth grade because of his departure, everybody is still mad at him for what he did the previous year. The other students feel that he should not be in school, but Mr. Raditch disagrees. Paige and Emma begin a silent protest with orange ribbons (not knowing that men are also victims of both dating and domestic violence, and not just women), which leads Rick to find himself the victim of violence (and also ironically experiencing how it must've felt for Terri when he hurt her, making him feel mentally remorseful). When Jay was beating up Rick in the same spot where he beat up Terri twice, Emma realized this had gone too far, and that what she did was wrong. She defended him before Alex joined in. Emma then goes against the protest and talks to him the day after, leading them to become acquaintances. Rick also developed a secret crush on her afterward. Despite one person now going against the protest, the bullying continues. When Rick shows up at the spirit squad car wash Jimmy tells him to get lost and sprays the back of the car with a hose as he drives away. When paired up in the "Whack-Your-Brain" competition by Mr. Simpson, Toby Isaacs then became his friend. The two even had friendly competitions, like a "Kiss Emma" contest and a "Who can kiss the most girls" contest. When Rick was losing the latter, Toby paid Darcy Edwards $5 to kiss Rick, feeling sorry for Rick. Darcy did so, not knowing about the abuse to Terri, and Jay ended up shoving Toby in a locker after witnessing the event. After "Whack-Your-Brain" teammate Heather Sinclair becomes ill before the competition, Jimmy was forced to become a contestant alongside with Rick. After Jimmy noticed that Rick isn't so bad after all during practices, and realized that the bullying had gone too far, he became friendly towards him, and even defended him against Jay, Alex, and Spinner Mason once. On the "Whack-Your-Brain" finals where Rick is teamed with Toby, Jimmy and Emma, Degrassi is tied with the another school. Rick is chosen to break the tie and he wins for Degrassi. Rick then gets yellow paint and feathers spilled on himself due to a prank set up by Jay and Spinner, and activation by Alex, and goes home, only to come back with his father's handgun hidden in his backpack. He was originally going to shoot Paige, but after she expresses her sympathies and admits that she was disgusted with the prank, he changes his mind. They also forgave each other about Terri. Rick then cleans himself off in the washroom. He appears remorseful and smiles, apparently thinking himself that the whole bringing a gun to school thing was silly, when Jay and Spinner walk in. Rick hides in a stall as Spinner tells Jay he's convinced Mr. Raditch knows. Jay then notices the yellow paint in the sink and sees Rick's feet in the stall. He then starts talking about how well Jimmy played his part. Spinner, also noticing Rick, plays along and talks about how Jimmy was an inside man. Rick, hurt by Emma for rejecting him after he kissed her, and at Jimmy who he thought stabbed him in the back, confronted Jimmy and shot him in the back as he tried to run away. Rick then goes after Emma who is with Sean Cameron and Toby at the time. Sean points out that Rick has a gun and to walk away. Rick closes his eyes with the gun in his hand and yells at them, "Don't turn away from me!" Sean tries his best to convince Rick to put the gun down and is almost successful but Rick points his gun at Emma and Sean grabs the gun in an attempt to stop him. Toby yells "Stop!" A gunshot is heard, and they both fall to the ground. It is revealed later that Rick has been killed. Toby then hated Rick like everyone else, and when Danny Van Zandt and J.T. Yorke are mad at him for being friends with a "psycho", Manny Santos tells him that Toby would've never became friends with Rick if J.T. hadn't ignored Toby and hung out with Danny all the time in the first place. J.T. then reflects on (and regrets) all the things he said to Toby. Toby ends up going to Rick's memorial service, when J.T. shows up as well, after learning his lesson from Manny. Sean is then treated as a hero, but is having trouble expressing his feelings about the shooting. He then moves back with his parents in Wasaga Beach, after having a huge fight with them when Sean sees them express their feelings about the shooting and crying (even though they kicked him out). Mr. Raditch gets transferred to a new school because of the shooting, and Ms. Hatzilakos takes his place as principal. Jimmy is hospitalized and paralyzed from the waist down, as well as confined to a wheelchair. Spinner, feeling guilty for what he did to Rick and indirectly Jimmy (while wishing he had been Rick's friend from the start and defended him as Jimmy later did), confesses to what he and Jay told Rick. Jimmy and Spinner are in the gym when Spinner says, "When that paint was dumped on Rick, we told him that you did it." Jimmy replies, "And then he shot me..." Jimmy rolls away and Spinner is left alone. Other Appearances In the 2008 Degrassi Halloween special, it is the 3-year anniversary of the school shooting. Holly J, Jane, Mia, Danny, Sav, and Anya stay to help set up the Degrassi "Harvest Dance". Holly J., who was in charge, left to go to her locker to get the raffle tickets. In her locker, she found Rick's glasses, which still had yellow paint on them, and picked them up. Rick then took over her body after he chased her to the music room. Meanwhile, Jane calls Spinner and tells him to come join the others at the dance. Spinner refuses, feeling guilty on the shooting's anniversary. Rick then proceeds to kill most of the students there until Spinner came and apologized for bullying him all those years ago. He then realizes he's dead and then resets everything to before he killed the students. Other Information Crimes Committed #Threatened and physically abused Terri MacGregor #Shoved Terri MacGregor, causing her to fall and hit her head on a rock and land in a coma #Vandalism, spray painted an "X'" on Spinner Mason and Jay Hogart's cars #Stole a gun from his home and brought it to school #Shot Jimmy Brooks in the back and paralyzed him #Held a gun on Emma Nelson #Even though it was on accident, he grazed the arm of Sean Cameron. Similarities to Claude Tanner *Claude also wore glasses. *Claude and Caitlin's situation is similar to Rick and Emma's before Rick brings a gun to school. Caitlin refused to go out with Claude, which led to him bringing a gun to school, and Emma refused to go out with Rick, which partially led to him bringing a gun to school. Relationships *Terri MacGregor **First Relationship: ***Start Up: 'Whisper To A Scream' (308) ***Break up: 'Never Gonna Give You Up' (310) ***Reason: Rick had been abusing Terri. **Second Relationship: ***Start Up: 'Don't Dream It's Over' (317) ***Break Up: '"Don't Dream It's Over''' (317) ****Reason: Rick put Terri in a coma. Quotes *"I didn't want it to have to come to this." *Terri: (about Paige) "I am so sorry." Rick: "Paige does not matter. SHE DOES NOT MATTER!" Terri: "Please, Rick. Calm down." Rick: I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just so happy...that we're...together again. *kisses Terri* We're made for each other." Terri: "Come back. Ignore Paige." Rick: No, let's walk." Terri: It's really far." Rick: "She called me a psycho!" Terri: "That's just Paige being Paige." Rick: "...That makes it okay? Do my feelings mean NOTHING to you?" Terri: Let go...Rick..." Rick: "Don't you DARE choose Paige over me again. DON'T YOU DARE!" Terri: "I'm going back." Rick: You can't leave, you understand?" Terri: "Rick, you're hurting me!" Rick: "You're not going. Not. NOT. NOT! Gallery rick1.jpg rick2.jpg rick3.jpg rick5.jpg jimmy-about-to-get-shot.jpg rickxterri.jpg Category:Degrassi: The Next Generation Category:Degrassi: TNG characters Category:Characters Category:Degrassi: TNG teens Category:Male Characters Category:Recurring Characters Category:Season 3 Category:Season 4 Category:Relationships Category:Relationship Issues Category:Crushes Category:Friendships Category:Abuse Category:Anger Issues Category:Deceased Category:Funeral Category:Bullying Category:Gun Category:Death Category:Shooting Category:School Shooting Category:Issues Category:School fights Category:Major Recurring Characters